USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 79
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For a time during the interval between 1845 and 1850, John Funke kept a school on the south side of Macomb near St. Antoine Street, and A. Stutte on the southwest corner of Croghan and St. Antoine. From 1851 to 1854, W. D. Cochrane maintained an English and classical school on what is now Broadway near Grand River.
Miss C. E. Chapin opened a school in the Sheldon Block in the fall of 1854 and in the same year S. L. Campbell taught a classical and high school in the old Seminary Building on Griswold Street. After this, and until 1860, this last- named school was taught by Dr. C. F. Soldan.
In April, 1856, a school was opened on the corner of State Street and Wood- ward Avenue by Misses Hosmer and Emerson. In 1857, Miss Ellinwood and Maria Rockwell (afterward Mrs. Mathew W. Birchard) had schools. Miss Rockwell had taught for several years in the old Capitol School. In 1858 and 1859 Dr. and Mrs. Reighley conducted an institute on the northeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and Rivard Street. The Detroit Female Seminary, first on the corner of Fort and Wayne Streets, was founded in September, 1859. The sem- inary was at first a corporation, but in 1874 J. M. B. Sill became its sole pro- prietor. The first principal was J. V. Bean, succeeded in after years by J. F. Pearl, J. M. B. Sill, Mrs. Simons Towle and H. M. Martin.
A notable school of this period was Philo M. Patterson's school for boys, organized at the rear of one of the Mechanics' Society lots, 109 Griswold Street, September 1, 1860. Patterson had a five year lease on the building for $550 per year. In 1873 the school was moved to the conrer of Gratiot and Farmer, and subsequently to the Chamber of Commerce Building, where it continued until Mr. Patterson's death in 1882. This was a famous old school and was attended by the best of Detroit's younger manhood. John H. Bissell and Frank Andrus, now well known in the city, were teachers in this old school.
In 1861, Leo Romer was conducting the Michigan Female Seminary at 215 Woodward Avenue, but in 1862 it was moved to Park Place and Grand River Avenue, where it continued several years.
The German American Seminary, established in the early '60s is described in the chapter upon universities and colleges.
In 1862, and for several years later, a Ladies' Day School was conducted by Mrs. C. James at 267 Jefferson Avenue and a classical and high school by L.
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Leonard at 239 Woodward. In 1863 H. G. Jones began a boys' school at 5S Grand River, which was moved several times in later years. In 1876, N. Schantz established a German and English academy with a kindergarten on Farrar Street near Monroe, which continued in the same location until 1SS2. In 1876 Rev. A. B. Brown opened a boys' school on the northeast corner of Monroe and Farmer and remained there until 1882. During 1882, a boys' school was established in the basement of the St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church and was taught by Rev. Paul Ziegler. In later years it was transferred to a building of its own on Adams near Park. Holy Trinity Anglo-Catholic School was opened at 86 Fourteenth Avenue September 5, 1881, with eighteen scholars, and continued by Rev. R. M. Edwards until 1883.
THE LIGGETT SCHOOLS
The Detroit Home and Day School was opened in September, 187S, by Rev. James D. Liggett, his wife and three daughters, one of whom was married two years later. The school was located in three connecting houses on Broadway, then called Miami Avenue, near Grand River, but the increasing numbers and the requirements of good work demanded a suitable school house, consequently a stock company was formed to erect one to be leased for a term of years to the school management. In January, 18S3, the new location on Cass Avenue and Stimson Place was occupied and, with many alterations and adaptations to changing conditions, has been in use until the present time.
In 1890 it seemed advisable to abandon the coeducational idea and receive boys in the primary grades only. At this time a kindergarten was added and a school lunch room. The home department steadily grew until, in 1907, it was necessary to rent an adjacent house as an annex. In 1912 it was decided to drop the boarding-school feature and remodel the dormitory floor for laboratories and extra recitation space.
When the first corporation charter expired, its renewal was marked by a change of name to the Liggett School.
In 1913 patrons living on the east side organized a second stock company for the establishment of a branch elementary school, to be called the Eastern Liggett School, and the following January its beautiful, modern building at Burns and Charlevoix Avenues was occupied. Work here is carried through eight grades only. Both schools have followed the new movement towards a flexible classification of the children through the third grade, to permit development according to individual indications until the child has acquired the use of reading, writing and simple numbers usually expected for the fourth grade. Throughout the entire school experience, the project method is introduced wherever feasible, and a due proportion of time is given to music, design, dramaties and athletics. Self-government and a sense of responsibility are encouraged in every practicable way from the earliest beginnings of school life up to the point when the various student bodies organize and conduct such boards as the Athletic League, Self- Government Board, Symmatheta (the dramatic society), Rivista (the school publication), and others. The enrollment of the main school is at present 356, of the branch 194; the united faculties number 60 persons. Of the 666 alumni, 192 have entered college and SS have been graduated.
In 18SS Miss Eliza Collar was conducting a private school at 143 High Street West, the Detroit Industrial School had sprung into existence, and Misses Nellie J. and Susie K. Thompson had a private school at 257 East Congress Street. The
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following year the Detroit Seminary, corner of Park Place and Adams Avenue, was in charge of Anna M. Cutcheon and Harriett B. Pope. This seminary comprised five departments-kindergarten, primary, intermediate, academic and collegiate. In 1890, also, Rev. Jacob Gronemann had a private school at 179 East Fort, which continued but a few years. In 1891 the Industrial School Association was located at the corner of Grand River and Washington Avenues. By 1894 there had come into existence the Detroit School for Boys, conducted by Frederick and Mary E. Whitton at 15 and 17 Winder Street. Miss Edna Chaffee was teaching a school of "elocution and English literature" at 60 Edmund Place. In 1895 Miss Nellie J. Thompson was teaching alone in her select school. "The Plymouth Institute-The Peoples College " is advertised in 1895 as having regular courses in college preparatory, science, acting, music, business. English, political and social economy and domestic science. Rev. Morgan Wood was the president. The Detroit Seminary in 1897 was in charge of Eliza Hammond and Laura C. Browning and was located at 643-5 Jefferson Avenue.
The development of private schools in Detroit was not regular. The in- creasing efficiency of the public school system rendered a great number of select and private schools unnecessary and from 1896 until 1906 very few were estab- lished. The well-established private schools continued to operate successfully, but the smaller and new ones suffered from lack of patronage. About 1905, however, the population of Detroit began to grow at an accelerated pace, and very soon the public schools were overcrowded. To meet this situation several more private schools came to be established. The North Woodward School was established in 1905 with an enrollment of sixteen pupils. This school was for boys and girls and carried them from the kindergarten through the first year of high school. Miss Mary Newman was the teacher here. In 190S the Jefferson Avenue School of modern languages, was established for boys and girls and the study embraced subjects from the primary grades through the first year of high school. The Dexter School for boys was established in 1909 and followed closely the plan of the German gymnasium. Work corresponding to that from the fourth grade through the first year high school was introduced. The Bloomfield Hills Seminary, begun in 1912, carried boys and girls through the eighth grade; the first enrollment was eighteen. The Grosse Pointe School for boys and girls was established in 1915 and embraced the whole curriculum from primary through high school, with some kindergarten classes.
The Thomas Normal Training School, for the training of teachers in domestic science, physical and manual training, was founded in 1SSS by Mrs. Myra B. Thomas, who was for eighteen years supervisor of music in the Detroit public schools.
The old Detroit University School was established first in 1890, and in 1905 was reorganized as the New Detroit University School. The school is now located at 548 Parkview Avenue, with D. H. Fletcher as head-master, and W. H. Fries, associate. The Clark Private School is located at 4835 Second Boulevard.
It may be noted in passing that Detroit's public schools have, in great meas- ure, grown to the needs of a large city. Small private schools, of strictly academic or classical character, have largely disappeared. The older and exclusive private schools such as the Liggett School, yet receive a generous patronage and always will. Vocational and technical schools of private character have been organized in great numbers, as have correctional schools of different types. These are described in a later paragraph.
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CHURCH SCHOOLS
It has been narrated how Cadillac favored some means of educating the youth of his settlement, how the Church of Ste. Anne carefully nourished the seed of education, and how Father Gabriel Richard, hard fighter for the cause of educa- tion, labored to establish schools for the young people of Detroit. Father Rich- ard constantly sought ways and means of establishing schools. In 1811 he secured a teacher named La Salliere from France and in 1820 the Communaute de Ste. Marie, a school taught by Miss Elizabeth Williams, was maintained, probably in connection with Father Richard's parish. This school existed for many years and subsequent reports indicated that it cared for nearly all the Catholic children in the community. The school known as St. Philip's College (Cote du Nordest), distinctly a church school, has been described in the chapter upon universities and colleges. In connection with this mention of Father Richard, the following letter from him to Rt. Rev. Dr. Fenwick, bishop of Cincinnati, in 1824 (while Richard was in Congress) is of interest:
"The laws allow the President to spend yearly $10,000 for the purpose of aiding the schools that are or may be established for the instruction of young Indians. You will see that the whole is not to be done by Government, a be- ginning must be made by the benevolence of some charitable persons. You will find by the enclosed papers, that the Government is disposed to pay two-thirds of the expense of the necessary buildings, and Mr. Hamilton, the clerk under Mr. Calhoun, who has all the management of the affairs of the Indians in relation to their civilization, has told me, that the President has given, in one instance, as much as $2,000 towards the erection of a building estimated at $3,000. I am almost determined to try one establishment of the kind at the River Raisins, either on my own land, or on that of St. Ann's, which, as you know, has three sections above the French settlement, or else on the very Indian reserve of six sections, close by the three of St. Anne's. The French would willingly advance a third, on condition that we admit the French and Canadian children into the same sehool. You can bring from Europe three French Priests, to live either with me at Detroit, to exercise the holy ministry among the white population, or to attend to the Indian school at the River Raisins. All that I can require is, that they pay their expenses from Europe to Detroit. From New York they can come to Detroit in eight days, each for less than $30, and will have fine accommodations all the way in steamboats, and through the grand canal in the elegant newly-built boat, the charges are only $3.00 per 100 miles everything included. You may send me three French priests or two French and one American. I can promise that I will cause them to be provided for as well, or better than myself."
In the early part of the summer of 1833, several of the Sisters of St. Claire, originally from Bruges, under the leadership of Sister Superior Von de vogel, came to Detroit from Pittsburg and established a seminary for girls. In 1837 they were conducting a German and English free school with an enrollment of forty-five pupils. In this last-named year this school was succeeded by the French Female Charity School, under the patronage of Mrs. Antoine Beaubien (who was Monique Labadie, one of the four teachers employed by Fr. Gabriel Richard in 1804: she married Antoine Beaubien in 1829) and taught by Elizabeth Williams. Miss Williams died in 1843 and was succeeded by Miss Matilda Couchois, and after a year the Sisters of Charity took charge.
OLD CATHOLIC SCHOOL BUILDING ON GRA- TIOT ROAD, NEAR CONNER'S CREEK, BUILT IN 1864
ACADEMY OF SACRED HEART, JEFFERSON AVENUE AND ST. ANTOINE ST., ABOUT 1881
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Four sisters arrived May 30, 1844, and under their charge a frec school for boys and girls was opened June 10, 1844 in a frame building on the southwest corner of Randolph and Larned Streets. On May 1, 1845, the boys were trans- ferred to the basement of Ste. Anne's Church and the girls remained in the old location, the school taking the name of St. Vincent's Seminary. In 1846, there were one hundred pupils, about twenty-five of whom paid a tuition. The brick school building on Larned Street was opened in 1852 with 150 scholars, which number had been increased to over 200 in 1870. In 1871, the Sisters left the school, but it was maintained by lay teachers for four years longer. The boys' department, in the basement of Ste. Anne's, was conducted by the Sisters until September, 1851, when the 280 pupils were placed under the care of five brothers of the Christian schools. In 1851, a brick addition was erected in the rear of the church for the accommodation of the school, which in 1852 numbered 400 scholars. In July, 1864, the school was discontinued.
As early as 1850, a parish school was taught by Daniel O'Connor in the base- ment of Trinity Church at Porter and Sixth. In 1851 separate schools for each of the sexes were taught in the same location. In 1852, the brothers of the Chris- tian school began to teach the boys to the number of 250. In 1853, a brick school building was erected just east of the priest's house on Porter. A girls' school was continued in the basement of the church until 1858, when a large brick school building was erected on Porter Street, between Sixth and Seventh. This building has been enlarged several times subsequently. The school was first in charge of the Sisters of Charity, and in 1872 was taken over by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In 1870, there were four teachers at the boys' school at the corner of Porter and Fifth Streets.
A school for girls was established in the parish of St. Mary's in 1850, with an initial enrollment of eighty scholars. At first it was taught by teachers, but in 1866 it was given over to the Sisters of Notre Dame from Milwaukee who have charge of the school at the present time. The school for boys was opened September 24, 1852 and before the end of the year there were 300 scholars. A brick school house was constructed on the southwest corner of Croghan and St. Antoine Streets in 1868.
The first school in connection with the parish of SS. Peter and Paul was established in the rear of the cathedral in 1858 under the charge of the brothers of the Christian schools. It was continued by them for three years, and was then taught by lay teachers. On September 9, 1864, it was placed in charge. of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who remained until September, 1881.
A school for St. Joseph's parish was in existence in 1850 with nearly 100 scholars. The parish school of St. Boniface was established and the building erected in 1869. The St. Vincent de Paul School was established in August, 1872 and was at first conducted by lay teachers. In September, 1874, the female department was placed in charge of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The school of Our Lady of Help was begun in 1872. St. Albert's school was also established in 1872. St. Joachim's, formerly the Sacred Heart French School, was instituted in June, 1875. In April, 1875, there came into existence the Sacred Heart German School. Most Holy Redeemer school was begun about 1882. St. Casimer's school, Polish, was also begun in the 'SOs. St. Anthony's school on Gratiot Avenue was established about 1854 in a frame building constructed for the purpose.
Over seventy years ago the Religious of the Sacred Heart, at the invitation
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of Mr. and Mrs. Antoine Beaubien, and with the approval of Bishop Lefevre, first came to Detroit to devote themselves to the education of youth. They opened their first convent in June, 1851, in a small frame house on Jefferson Avenue, north side, near the old railroad bridge, but the next year increased attendance necessitated a removal to a brick building on the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and St. Antoine. In 1854 a property called Elmwood was purchased and there the boarding and day schools, as also the free school, increased in numbers and the foundations were laid on which have been built the present flourishing academies on Lawrence Avenue and at Grosse Pointe in which the boarding school was established in 1885. After a few years at Elmwood, having obtained a clear title to the fine property situated on Jefferson Avenue and Antoine Street so generously donated to the Society of the Sacred Heart by Antoine Beaubien and his wife, the Religious were enabled to transfer their work to the former Beaubien residence and there to erect, in 1861, the large convent which for a half century was a landmark in what was then a purely residential section of the city, but which, in recent years, became converted into a business and industrial center. Then it was that the property on Lawrence Avenue was purchased and in 1918 the present spacious academy of the Sacred Heart was opened. From the early days of the foundation to the present time the Catholics and non-Catholics of Detroit have patronized well the strong training of this institution. The first school registers record many names prominent in Detroit history, among them being: Godfroy, Cole, Provençal, Piquette, Gagnier, Brennan, Van Dyke, Pitcher, Elbert, Davis, Cicotte, Hol- brook, Beaubien, Hall, Moran, Chapoton, Bull, Dubois, Flynn, Campau, Ives, O'Brien, Elliot, St. Aubin, Connor, Palms, Lewis, Baby, Riopelle, Brodhead, Willis, DuCharme, Bradford, Larned, Peltier and Flattery.
The Convent of the Sacred Heart at Grosse Pointe Farms is another institu- tion established under the care of the Religious of the Sacred Heart. In 1885 the Society, already well-known in Detroit where a day school had been opened in 1851, mentioned above, founded a boarding school in Grosse Pointe. A large farm, which forms part of the property, supplied fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy products, so that the pupils enjoyed all the benefits of country life. In 1887 a parochial school was opened for children of the neighborhood.
The St. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Seminary, for the education of Polish theological students, was first located on St. Aubin Avenue, between Forest and Garfield Avenues. The building was first used December 20, 1886.
Beginning in the early '90s, when the growth of the city meant the establish- ment of additional Catholic parishes in Detroit, the number of parochial schools increased correspondingly. The idea of education has never been permitted to lapse among the parishes, and today the thoroughness and quality of the school system in the Catholic Church is of great merit. The Roman Catholic schools in Detroit in 1920-21 are:
All Saints Parochial School: West Fort and Springwells: in charge of Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Annunciation Parish School: Parkview and Agnes Avenues: Sisters of Im- maculate Heart of Mary.
Assumption Parochial School: Lovett and Warren Avenues: Felician Sisters.
Assumption School: Gratiot Avenue near Grotto Road: Dominican Sisters.
Blessed Sacrament School: Belmont Avenue: Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
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Carmelite Sisters, D. C. J. : 3350 Leland.
Convent Felician Sisters: 2248 Medbury Avenue.
Convent of the Holy Family: 9532 Cardoni Avenue.
Convent of the Immaculate Heart: 1051 Porter Street.
Convent of Notre Dame: 128 Macomb Strect.
Convent of Sacred Heart: Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe.
Convent and Academy of Sacred Heart: Lawrence and Wilson Avenues.
Felician Convent : Canfield and St. Aubin.
Holy Cross Catholic School: Southwest Place and Yale.
Holy Name School: Nuernberg and Van Dyke.
Holy Rosary Parish School: Woodward and Harper Avenues: in charge of the Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Immaculate Conception School: Trombley Avenue and Moran.
Most Holy Redeemer Convent and School: Junction Avenue between Eldred and Dix.
Most Holy Trinity School: 148 Porter Street.
Nativity of Our Lord Parish School: McCellan Avenue near Lamb: Dominican Sisters.
Our Lady of Angels Parish School: Martin Avenue and Edward: Franciscan Sisters.
Our Lady of Help School: Elmwood Avenue and Larned.
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic School: Dearborn Avenue near Rail- road.
Our Lady of Sorrows Roman Catholic School: 722 Meldrum.
Resurrection School: 6141 Leuschner Avenue.
Sacred Heart Academy: 171 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe.
Sacred Heart German Catholic School: Eliot and Rivard.
Sacred Heart Seminary.
Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic School: 290 Eliot: Sisters of Notre Dame.
Sacred Heart of Mary School: Canfield and Russell: Polish Sisters of St. Francis.
St. Agnes Convent : LaSalle Gardens.
St. Albertus School: St. Aubin and Canfield: Felician Sisters.
St. Aloysius Parish School: 44 Park Place East: Sisters of Charity.
St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic School: Warren Avenue near Miller Road: Sisters of St. Dominic.
St. Ambrose Parish School: Hampton and Weyburn Avenues, Grosse Pointe Park.
St. Anne's Convent : 2630 Lafayette Boulevard.
Ste. Anne's French Catholic School: Howard Street between Eighteenth and Nineteenth.
St. Anthony's Catholic School: 1218 Field Avenue: in charge of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
St. Benedict's Parish School: Candler Avenue.
St. Bernard's School: Lillibridge Avenue: in charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
St. Boniface Parochial School: 2350 Vermont Avenue: in charge of the Sisters Immaculate Heart of Mary.
St. Casimer's Catholic School: 657-9 Twenty-third Street: in charge of the Felician Sisters.
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St. Catherine's Roman Catholic School : Maxwell and Sprague Avenues.
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School: Townsend Avenne: in charge of Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary.
St. Elizabeth's Parochial School: 4230 MeDougall: in charge of the Sisters of Charity.
St. Florian School: Florian and Whiting Avenues: in charge of the Felician Sisters.
St. Francesco Parochial School : Eliot Avenue.
St. Francis Polish School: Buchanan and Wesson Streets.
St. Francis Polish Roman Catholic School: 5806 Buchanan Street : in charge of Sisters of St. Francis.
St. Gabriel's Parochial School: 8118 Ferndale.
St. Hedwig School: Junction Avenue: Felician Sisters.
St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic School (Polish): Frederick Avenue: Felician Sisters.
St. Joachim Parish School: 2158 Lafayette.
St. John's Cantius School : Pulaski Avenue: Felician Sisters.
St. John's Parish School: East Grand Boulevard and Sargent: Sisters of Christian Charity.
St. Josaphat's Polish Roman Catholic School: Canfield Avenue: Felician Sisters.
St. Leo's Parish School: Fifteenth and Warren : Sisters of Charity.
St. Mary's Catholic School: St. Antoine and Monroe : Sisters of Notre Dame.
St. Paul's Parochial School: Grosse Pointe Farms.
SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral School: Parson Avenue: Sisters of Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SS. Peter and Paul (Jesuit) Parochial School: Larned and St. Antoine: Sisters of Charity.
St. Rose Parish School: Kercheval and Defer Place.
St. Stanislaus School: Medbury Avenue and Dubois: Felician Sisters.
. St. Theresa Roman Catholic School: Blaine and Radford.
St. Thomas Parochial School: Fischer and Chapin.
St. Vincent de Paul School: Fourteenth and Dalzelle: Sister Servants of In- maculate Heart of Mary.
St. Vincent's Convent : 2140 Marantelle.
St. Wenceslaus Bohemian School: 745 St. Antoine: School Sisters of St. Francis.
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